Richard de Fournival et les sciences au XIIIe siècle edited by Joëlle Ducos and Christopher Lucken

Edited by Joëlle Ducos and Christopher Lucken, Richard de Fournival et les sciences au XIIIe siècle focuses on one of the most fascinating intellectuals of the 13th century. Although Fournival studied in Paris and lived for some time in Rome, it was in Amiens that he spent most of his life. In some respects, Fournival may be compared with his English contemporary Robert Grosseteste. Both were polymaths interested in science, theology, and literature. Although less prolific than Grosseteste, Richard de Fournival wrote literary works in French—the most renowned being his Bestiaire d’Amours—and a number of scientific treatises. Some of these works are lost (e.g., his treatise on urines), while others such as his De arte alchemica are ascribed to him in the manuscript tradition, yet their attribution is still questioned. Reviewed by: Nicola Polloni, Published Online (2021-08-31)Copyright © 2021 by Nicola PolloniThis open access publication is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (CC BY-NC-ND) Article PDF Link: https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/aestimatio/article/view/37739/28738 Corresponding Author: Nicola Polloni,KU LeuvenE-Mail: [email protected]

“New Knowledge of Lost Worlds”?

In contemporary academic circles, the fields of science, theology, and literature may be compartmentalized with relatively little interaction. However, such distinctions were less rigid in the early nineteenth century. One of the figures whose writings stretched across these disciplinary boundaries was Edward Hitchcock, a world-renowned geologist and president of Amherst College who also had extensive theological training. Now best-known among paleontologists for his discovery of fossil footprints in the Connecticut River Valley, Hitchcock made use of his considerable talents in an 1836 poem entitled “The Sandstone Bird.” This poem—often known to historians of science but little remarked among students of American literature—effectively uses formal verse to draw out theological dimensions to the prehistoric world conjured up by Hitchcock’s own paleontological discoveries.

The Human Heart, from Harvey to Hobbes

For two millennia the heart was considered to be the seat of intelligence, motion and sensation. Thomas Hobbes’s friend William Harvey revolutionised the understanding of the heart by demonstrating how blood circulates, and correctly identifying the function of the heart as propulsion. Soon after the publication of De Motu Cordis, Descartes redefined the heart as a ‘pump’, and Hobbes as a ‘spring’. In these mechanistic and rationalist systems the heart lost its prestige, and could no longer be considered the source of sensation and emotion. Harvey did not, however, seek to displace the heart from its traditional position in metaphysical anatomy, but by retaining an Aristotelean interest in causes, continued to promote the centrality of the heart in ways that have persisted in philosophy, theology and literature even to the present day. A fresh look at Harvey’s writings will help us to understand why.

Literary Hymns from Kashmir

This chapter presents an overview of the history and study of literary hymns from Kashmir. In roughly chronological order it introduces the central texts discussed in the remainder of this book. It highlights three distinctive themes that emerge from a long view of stotras in Kashmir. The first is the relationship between theology and literature, and specifically how many Kashmirian authors address theological issues, such as the nature of non-dualistic prayer and devotion, in their hymns. Second, these stotras frequently engage with multiple, complex audiences, both human and divine. In some cases this serves pedagogical purposes, or facilitates the transmission of highly technical teachings. Finally, it shows how the trajectory of this genre is markedly different from that of other genres in Kashmir. Kashmirian authors repeatedly turned to the flexible stotra form for creative literary experiments that challenged contemporary conventions or re-envisioned earlier traditions.

Transfigurations of Love: Beauty, Desire, and Union with God

Mark S. Burrows, Professor of Historical Theology and Literature, The Protestant University of Applied Sciences, Bochum Transfigurations of Love Beauty, Desire, and Union with God

Tradition and Scripture

Tradition has been expressed as the history of the reception or the effects of the Scriptures. This chapter begins by exploring three examples of this history: the emergence of the creeds which did not replace the Scriptures but shaped the Church’s appropriation of them; the contrast between Adam and Christ as the New Adam or Last Adam (initiated by St Paul and then flourishing in Christian theology and literature); and the doctrine of justification, which centred largely on the interpretation of St Paul, became the heart of the Reformation debates, and has now found a substantial consensus between the churches. At Vatican II, the witness of the Scriptures corrected long-standing but unacceptable traditions involving the denial of religious freedom and sinful anti-Semitism. The example of Christ and his apostles and the teaching of Paul in Romans, respectively, helped to motivate these two reforms.